Hi.

Welcome to my blog. I live in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle on an Urban Farm (w/ five laying hens and a huge garden). I am a trained chef (w/ a certificate in food preservation), taught at a cooking school & like to share 'kitchen hacks' - culinary tips that save time, money & maximize flavor. If that isn't enough, I also run a food+tech startup called Barn2Door.com - a platform to help everyone easily find & buy food directly from farmers, fishers & ranchers (from CSA's to urban farm eggs to 1/2 a grass-fed cow).

Feb 9 Assembly only: appetizer with pesto, pine nuts, goat cheese

How fun! I thought I had already posted this 'easy app.' My sister in law brought it to a holiday party and all it took was a bowl of crackers for this appetizer to gain notoriety among guests. Not much to say (this, coming from the talker?!); all you need is goat cheese (room temperature, spread onto plate), pesto (make your own or buy your favorite) and lightly toasted pine nuts.

Even kids will dig (yep, literally, just keep the tonka trucks at bay---that goat cheese would be impossible to clean out of the tires!) this preamble. It is simple, approachable and 'what you see is what you get.' My favorite part of this appetizer is eating it; a close second? My kiddos can assemble it.